Sooty Oystercatchers

Like giant sized blackbirds dark feathers and orange bills They search for cockles and oysters along the rocky shore I've seen them in family groups of five to nine or ten And in smaller groups of two to three or four. The Sooty Oystercatchers uncommon and yet not rare And not as plentiful as the more abundant pied You see them on volcanic rocks in family groups Searching for shell food washed out by the tide. They nest amongst 'pigface' or on rocks close to the sea And two to three blotched yellow eggs they lay And you always hear them piping as they fly Above the tide line all along the bay. They are the blackbirds of the ocean shore And they can be seen after the tide go out On rocky shores in Cape Paterson and Inverloch And all along the coastline down through Gippsland South. You always hear them piping as they fly Gleep gleep a gleep such pleasant sounds they make And though not often seen quite easily recognized And once heard and seen birds you should not mistake.